Raquel Molina is a music therapist who knows how to use melody, rhythm and harmony to accompany people in their most difficult moments.
Music, in addition to being a form of entertainment, is an essential tool that can help us feel better and overcome the potholes that life throws at us. Raquel was still very young when she sang the songs of Antonio Molina that she listened to at home. Contact with music has been something permanent in his life. At eighteen, he decided to jump into the pool and begin his musical journey. Today, Raquel lives in Madrid and has turned her passion into a profession focused on helping people.
And in case you haven't noticed yet... Raquel is already in Mobs Nation!
THE LOSS OF VOICE THAT LEADED TO THE RELEASE OF AN ALBUM
“Music has always been a constant in my life that has never changed”
Raquel's story is a staff of major and minor chords, with obstacles and successes that have marked her personal and professional life. This vocational artist began her musical path on stage, but over time her relationship with music and with herself changed… And she became a music therapist!
Q: Raquel, what was your first contact with music?
A: I was four years old. In my house we listened to a lot of music and I liked to sing Antonio Molina, in fact, it was the first thing I sang. However, it wasn't until I was eighteen that I began to think of music as a career path. At that age I already met with people to rehearse and in a short time I began to do concerts. Music has always been a constant in my life. It has always been there.
Q: Did you have any kind of musical training?
A: I have always been very self-taught. But when the technique required it, I attended classes with professional teachers where I learned a lot. I've always gone a little free, taking crumbs from where I needed, and in this way I was a little more me .
Q: Speaking of your musical career, in 2017 you released your album “Dance the life”, what impact has that release had on your artistic and professional career?
A: Actually this album was a personal work and it's not even been presented live. A few years ago I had a serious problem with my voice and I gradually lost it... For four or five years I went through different therapies that helped me to get to know myself again through my voice and to accept my processes. Years later, when I began to recover my voice again, I decided to leave the self-demanding I had with myself when it came to singing and I made an album as a result of all this process. The album was a hoot , there are some tremendous musicians and I am very happy to have released it.
Q: And do you have a date in mind for its presentation?
A: I plan to present it, but I still don't have a date and this health crisis is making it even more complicated. Maybe I'll do an online presentation, who knows! (laughs).
Q: Let's hope this normalizes a bit so we can start doing things...
A: Yes. On the one hand, I want to practice as a music therapist, my profession, in person. And on the other hand, I plan to sing live again... The last time I did it, before my voice was annoyed, was on March 6, 2014. And now I will resume it without the problems of self-demand and pressure of before.
A BARELY RECOGNIZED PROFESSION
“In music therapy, it is the music that adapts to the person to make them function better in the environment in which they live”
Q: Raquel, tell me a little about your experience as a music therapist, what fields do you work in?
A: In December of last year I finished my training in the Master's Degree in Music Therapy and I was doing internships in a residence with elderly people with functional diversity. I also worked in the palliative care unit of a hospital. However, with the Covid issue I had to stop going.
Q: How is this profession doing in the middle of the pandemic?
A: Right now I am working remotely with some of the patients I already had. However, it is difficult to carry out a music therapy process from a distance and even more so when you are just starting out.
Q: And what does that process consist of?
A: The process of music therapy in face-to-face sessions depends a lot on the person, since each one is a world. I try to reach the person through all the components of the music; rhythm, harmony and melody, so that it can lead a growth process. A person can take a music therapy treatment without having an idea of music , since each one internally has some rhythms, some melodies, some harmonies... without knowing it. In music therapy, it is the music that adapts to the person to make them function better in the environment in which they live.
Q: Music therapy as a profession is not yet recognized in our country, what difficulty has this meant for you?
A: I think there is a very big job of educating people and showing that this work is not about "singing to cheer people up", but that it consists of a necessary therapy capable of helping many people. Today there are professional music therapists working to give visibility to this profession and make people recognize it as such.
P: Also, I imagine that this type of therapy is very important nowadays…
A: Sure, at all levels. I, for example, in music therapy have changed my vision regarding music: now I see the person in an integral way and I see how they are psychologically depending on how they sing at each moment. This makes you look at many things and gives you a lot of scope.
HIGH VOCATION AND LITTLE SALARY
“Whoever studies music therapy thinking that he is going to earn money, forget it”
Q: Do you have a project in mind now?
A: Right now I am working on a music therapy project for stress and anxiety, which are problems that I have suffered personally. I am also preparing a palliative care project for later.
Q: What advice would you give to those who want to start as a music therapist?
A: (She remains thoughtful) These people have to think that they are going to enter a process and they have to be prepared to get involved in it, that is, while they are studying music therapy, they are doing their own process with another professional who is accompanying It is also very important to "not want to do everything" and to specialize in a specific field.
I think that when someone begins to do this type of studies, they have to take into account that it is something very vocational . Whoever studies music therapy thinking that he is going to earn money, forget it (laughs).
Q: You are the first Spanish singer to participate in Mobs Nation, what do you think of what Mobs is doing and what do you want to contribute to this platform?
A: It seems to me something very interesting and helpful . It is a very original idea and a good way to tell someone what you feel in a different way. There are many people who do not know how to express some emotions or feelings and this initiative is a vehicle for these people to put words to what they want to convey. It is a way of giving a different and original surprise using art.